FROM GOSSIP GIRL TO GAME CHANGER
A Glaswegian mum marooned in Edinburgh, Kylie Reid didn’t know where to get a haircut or how to find a plumber – so she set up an hugely successful online community where the city’s women help each other, discovers
They say a problem shared is a problem halved but how would that maths apply if you happen to share your problem with 14,000 other people? Founder of the Edinburgh Gossip Girls Facebook page Kylie Reid has created the means to answer such a question.
Originally from Glasgow, with a background in sales and marketing, new mum Kylie moved to Edinburgh in 2014 but felt disconnected to the new city she now called home. ‘I was a wee bit lost in terms of finding good places to go, especially when it came to important things like where to get my hair cut and nice places to eat, and I didn’t want to start scrolling through Google.
‘I know in other cities and towns there are forums like EGG where girls will recommend and review local businesses so I searched for a Facebook group but couldn’t find one so I set up Edinburgh Gossip Girls.’
By simply popping up content that she would like to see herself and asking friends, along with friends of friends to join, Kylie quickly created an online community through which 5,000 women, all living in the capital, were sharing, confiding and supporting one another. The group began attracting attention from local businesses who were keen to offer the group discounts and the chance to carry out reviews.
Despite the growing popularity of the group, Kylie was at that point still working full-time as a sales manager for Cheeky Chompers, a baby product company set up by two Edinburgh mums. ‘EGG was just ticking along in the background but it wasn’t a priority, although I knew deep down that there might be something in this and I’ve always wanted to do my own thing.’
The ambition to branch out and work for herself stems from Kylie watching her father, who ran his own business and would work seven days a week. ‘The phone would ring at 9 o’clock at night because he would have an advert in the local paper for a television so he would be picking up the phone and working all the time’. When Kylie’s Dad passed away last February, she felt compelled to take a leap of faith with her career.
‘It’s during these times where you kind of reassess your life and realise that we’re not here forever. My mum passed away seven years previously and I could see in both of them this reflective period and my dad in particular, focused on what he hadn’t done in his life’.
With all this in mind and the evergrowing support from the Edinburgh Gossip Girl page, Kylie officially launched EGG in April 2017. ‘By this time people were just calling it EGG anyway plus I was keen to get rid of the gossip side because we are about so much more than that’.
In order to monetise what she had already built, Kylie launched an annual subscription which entitles members to exclusive discounts and tickets to events such as The Runny EGG 10k, working lunches which include inspirational female speakers and shopping nights with both big and independent brands.
While the Facebook group has a waiting list of people keen to join and Kylie is careful to grow the group slowly to maintain the feeling of a safe space, the EGG card is open to all women. EGG events focus on topics like grief, maternal mental health and the menopause, proving the business is about much more than bringing women together for a natter or find a plumber.
After attending the EGG event on grief, one woman who lost her mother 25 years ago told Kylie it changed her life by allowing her to cry over her loss for the first time. According to Kylie, that’s all the confirmation needed to prove she made the right decision and that things are looking sunny side up for EGG.
“I knew deep down that there might be something in this and I’ve always wanted to do my own thing